American Samoa § 31.0337 - Inspection, copying, and disposal.

§ 31.0337. Inspection, copying, and disposal.

(a) In the notary’s presence, any person may inspect an entry in the official journal of notarial acts during regular business hours, but only if: (1) the person’s identity is personally known to the notary or proven through satisfactory evidence; (2) the person affixes a signature in the journal in a separate, dated entry; (3) the person specifies the month, year, type of document, and name of the principal for the notarial act or acts sought; and (4) the person is shown only the entry or entries specified. (b) If the notary has a reasonable and explainable belief that a person bears a criminal or harmful intent in requesting information from the notary’s journal, the notary may deny access to any entry or entries. (c) The journal may be examined without restriction by a law enforcement officer in the course of an official investigation, subpoenaed by court order, or surrendered at the direction of the Secretary. (d) Upon complying with a request under subsection (a), the notary shall provide a copy of a specified entry or entries in the journal at a cost of not more than $2.00 per copy; other entries on the same page shall be masked. If a certified copy of an entry in a bound book is requested, the additional cost is as specified in section 31.0330. (e) A notary shall safeguard the journal and all other notarial records and surrender or destroy them only by rule of law, by court order, or at the direction of the Secretary. (f) When not in use, the journal shall be kept in a secure area under the exclusive control of the notary, and shall not be used by any other notary nor surrendered to an employer upon termination of employment. (g) Within 10 days after the journal is stolen, lost, destroyed, damaged, or otherwise rendered unusable or unreadable as a record of notarial acts, the notary, after informing the appropriate law enforcement agency in the case of theft or vandalism, shall notify the Secretary by any means providing a tangible receipt or acknowledgment, including certified mail and electronic transmission, and also provide a copy or number of any pertinent police report. (h) Upon resignation, revocation, or expiration of a notary commission, or death of the notary, the journal and notarial records shall be delivered to the Office of the Secretary of American Samoa in accordance with sections 31.0351 to 31.0355.